Kathleen Kouril Grieser: Newton should stop 'surplusing' properties

Thursday

Mar 20, 2014 at 2:57 PMMar 20, 2014 at 2:57 PM

Many Newton residents oppose the Cityís policy of declaring our publicly owned property "surplus" to sell it at far below market value, or even give it away, to developers. They recall the village schools and branch libraries shuttered, and lost to community use forever. They resent the increased taxation and overrides required to resolve present overcrowding in the schools that remained after other schools were sold. They are baffled by the City declaring precious community assets "surplus" to encourage the construction of high-density housing complexes on our property needed for open space, village retail area parking, and other uses.If you agree that we who live, vote and pay taxes in the City are the City, and that the people we elect and pay to serve us should not sell off or give away our community assets without our direct consent, then you are not alone. Itís time for our elected leaders and staff, whose salaries we pay, to stop repeating mistakes.Please come and support the people of Newtonville on Tuesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber at City Hall at a Public Hearing before the Real Property Reuse and Zoning and Planning Committees of the Board of Aldermen. Please come to support for our petition asking the Aldermen to:1. Review and rescind the declaration and classification of the Austin Street public parking lot as surplus municipal land.2. Recommend that the mayor or other municipal authority withdraw the offer to sell the land, exercising an option listed in the Request for Proposal dated Feb. 13, 2013.3. Rezone the Austin Street parking lot from the recently created Mixed Use 4 (MU4) zone to a zone that is more appropriate to the scale of Newtonville village: Public Use, BU1 or BU2.--Kathleen Kouril Grieser, Mills Street